Upgrade from v1

v2 of this action includes significant changes. Please read the upgrade notes for a smooth migration.

About

GitHub Action to extract metadata (tags, labels) for Docker. This action is particularly useful if used with Docker Build Push action.

If you are interested, check out my other :octocat: GitHub Actions!

---

• Usage
  • Basic
  • Semver
  • Bake definition
• Customizing
  • inputs
  • outputs
• flavor input
• tags input
  • type=schedule
  • type=semver
  • type=match
  • type=edge
  • type=ref
  • type=raw
  • type=sha
• Notes
  • Latest tag
  • Overwrite labels
• Keep up-to-date with GitHub Dependabot
• Contributing
• License

Usage

Basic

name: ci

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - 'master'
    tags:
      - 'v*'
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - 'master'

jobs:
  docker:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      -
        name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      -
        name: Docker meta
        id: meta
        uses: crazy-max/ghaction-docker-meta@v2
        with:
          images: name/app
      -
        name: Login to DockerHub
        if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
        uses: docker/login-action@v1
        with:
          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
      -
        name: Build and push
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
        with:
          context: .
          push: ${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' }}
          tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
          labels: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.labels }}

Event	Ref	Docker Tags
pull_request	refs/pull/2/merge	pr-2
push	refs/heads/master	master
push	refs/heads/releases/v1	releases-v1
push tag	refs/tags/v1.2.3	v1.2.3, latest
push tag	refs/tags/v2.0.8-beta.67	v2.0.8-beta.67, latest

Semver

name: ci

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - 'master'
    tags:
      - 'v*'
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - 'master'

jobs:
  docker:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      -
        name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      -
        name: Docker meta
        id: meta
        uses: crazy-max/ghaction-docker-meta@v2
        with:
          images: name/app
          tags: |
            type=ref,event=branch
            type=ref,event=tag
            type=ref,event=pr
            type=semver,pattern={{version}}
            type=semver,pattern={{major}}.{{minor}}            
      -
        name: Login to DockerHub
        if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
        uses: docker/login-action@v1
        with:
          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
      -
        name: Build and push
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
        with:
          context: .
          push: ${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' }}
          tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
          labels: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.labels }}

Event	Ref	Docker Tags
pull_request	refs/pull/2/merge	pr-2
push	refs/heads/master	master
push	refs/heads/releases/v1	releases-v1
push tag	refs/tags/v1.2.3	1.2.3, 1.2, latest
push tag	refs/tags/v2.0.8-beta.67	2.0.8-beta.67

Bake definition

This action also handles a bake definition file that can be used with the Docker Bake action. You just have to declare an empty target named ghaction-docker-meta and inherit from it.

// docker-bake.hcl
target "ghaction-docker-meta" {}

target "build" {
  inherits = ["ghaction-docker-meta"]
  context = "./"
  dockerfile = "Dockerfile"
  platforms = ["linux/amd64", "linux/arm/v6", "linux/arm/v7", "linux/arm64", "linux/386", "linux/ppc64le"]
}

name: ci

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - 'master'
    tags:
      - 'v*'

jobs:
  docker:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      -
        name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      -
        name: Docker meta
        id: meta
        uses: crazy-max/ghaction-docker-meta@v2
        with:
          images: name/app
          tags: |
            type=ref,event=branch
            type=ref,event=tag
            type=ref,event=pr
            type=semver,pattern={{version}}
            type=semver,pattern={{major}}.{{minor}}
            type=sha            
      -
        name: Build
        uses: docker/bake-action@v1
        with:
          files: |
            ./docker-bake.hcl
            ${{ steps.meta.outputs.bake-file }}            
          targets: build

Content of ${{ steps.meta.outputs.bake-file }} file will look like this with refs/tags/v1.2.3 ref:

{
  "target": {
    "ghaction-docker-meta": {
      "tags": [
        "name/app:1.2.3",
        "name/app:1.2",
        "name/app:sha-90dd603",
        "name/app:latest"
      ],
      "labels": {
        "org.opencontainers.image.title": "Hello-World",
        "org.opencontainers.image.description": "This your first repo!",
        "org.opencontainers.image.url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World",
        "org.opencontainers.image.source": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World",
        "org.opencontainers.image.version": "1.2.3",
        "org.opencontainers.image.created": "2020-01-10T00:30:00.000Z",
        "org.opencontainers.image.revision": "90dd6032fac8bda1b6c4436a2e65de27961ed071",
        "org.opencontainers.image.licenses": "MIT"
      },
      "args": {
        "DOCKER_META_IMAGES": "name/app",
        "DOCKER_META_VERSION": "1.2.3"
      }
    }
  }
}

Customizing

inputs

Following inputs can be used as step.with keys

List type is a newline-delimited string

label-custom: |
  org.opencontainers.image.title=MyCustomTitle
  org.opencontainers.image.description=Another description
  org.opencontainers.image.vendor=MyCompany  

CSV type is a comma-delimited string

images: name/app,ghcr.io/name/app

Name	Type	Description
images	List/CSV	List of Docker images to use as base name for tags
tags	List	List of tags as key-value pair attributes
flavor	List	Flavor to apply
labels	List	List of custom labels
sep-tags	String	Separator to use for tags output (default \n)
sep-labels	String	Separator to use for labels output (default \n)

outputs

Following outputs are available

Name	Type	Description
version	String	Docker image version
tags	String	Docker tags
labels	String	Docker labels
bake-file	File	Bake definition file path

flavor input

flavor defines a global behavior for tags:

flavor: |
  latest=auto
  prefix=
  suffix=  

• latest=<auto|true|false>: Handle latest tag (default auto)
• prefix=<string>: A global prefix for each generated tag
• suffix=<string>: A global suffix for each generated tag

tags input

tags is the core input of this action as everything related to it will reflect the output metadata. This one is in the form of a key-value pair list in CSV format to remove limitations intrinsically linked to GitHub Actions (only string format is handled in the input fields). Here is an example:

tags: |
  type=schedule
  type=ref,event=branch
  type=ref,event=tag
  type=ref,event=pr
  type=semver,pattern={{version}}
  type=semver,pattern={{major}}.{{minor}}
  type=semver,pattern={{major}}
  type=sha  

Each entry is defined by a type, which are:

• type=schedule
• type=semver
• type=match
• type=edge
• type=ref
• type=raw
• type=sha

And global attributes:

• enable=<true|false> enable this entry (default true)
• priority=<number> priority to manage the order of tags
• prefix=<string> add prefix
• suffix=<string> add suffix

Default entries if tags input is empty:

tags: |
  type=schedule
  type=ref,event=branch
  type=ref,event=tag
  type=ref,event=pr  

type=schedule

tags: |
  # minimal
  type=schedule
  # default
  type=schedule,pattern=nightly
  # handlebars
  type=schedule,pattern={{date 'YYYYMMDD'}}  

Will be used on schedule event.

pattern is a specially crafted attribute to support Handlebars template with the following expressions:

• date 'format' ; render date by its moment format

Pattern	Output
nightly	nightly
{{date 'YYYYMMDD'}}	20210326

Extended attributes and default values:

tags: |
  type=schedule,enable=true,priority=1000,prefix=,suffix=,pattern=nightly  

type=semver

tags: |
  # minimal
  type=semver,pattern={{version}}
  # use custom value instead of git tag
  type=semver,pattern={{version}},value=v1.0.0  

Will be used on a push tag event and requires a valid Git tag semver but you can also use a custom value through value attribute.

pattern attribute supports Handlebars template with the following expressions:

• raw ; the actual semver
• version ; shorthand for {{major}}.{{minor}}.{{patch}} (can include pre-release)
• major ; major version identifier
• minor ; minor version identifier
• patch ; patch version identifier

Git tag	Pattern	Output
v1.2.3	{{raw}}	v1.2.3
v1.2.3	{{version}}	1.2.3
v1.2.3	{{major}}.{{minor}}	1.2
v1.2.3	v{{major}}	v1
v1.2.3	{{minor}}	2
v1.2.3	{{patch}}	3
v2.0.8-beta.67	{{raw}}	2.0.8-beta.67*
v2.0.8-beta.67	{{version}}	2.0.8-beta.67
v2.0.8-beta.67	{{major}}.{{minor}}	2.0.8-beta.67*

*Pre-release (rc, beta, alpha) will only extend {{version}} as tag because they are updated frequently, and contain many breaking changes that are (by the author's design) not yet fit for public consumption.

Extended attributes and default values:

tags: |
  type=semver,enable=true,priority=900,prefix=,suffix=,pattern=,value=  

type=match

tags: |
  # minimal
  type=match,pattern=\d{8}
  # double quotes if comma in pattern
  type=match,"pattern=\d{1,3}.\d{1,3}.\d{1,3}"
  # define match group
  type=match,pattern=v(.*),group=1
  # use custom value instead of git tag
  type=match,pattern=v(.*),group=1,value=v1.0.0  

Can create a regular expression for matching Git tag with a pattern and capturing group. Will be used on a push tag event but you can also use a custom value through value attribute.

Git tag	Pattern	Group	Output
v1.2.3	\d{1,3}.\d{1,3}.\d{1,3}	0	1.2.3
v2.0.8-beta.67	v(.*)	1	2.0.8-beta.67
v2.0.8-beta.67	v(\d.\d)	1	2.0
20200110-RC2	\d+	0	20200110

Extended attributes and default values:

tags: |
  type=group,enable=true,priority=800,prefix=,suffix=,pattern=,group=0,value=  

type=edge

tags: |
  # minimal
  type=edge
  # define default branch
  type=edge,branch=main  

An edge tag reflects the last commit of the active branch on your Git repository. I usually prefer to use edge as a Docker tag for a better distinction or common pattern. This is also used by official images like Alpine.

Extended attributes and default values:

tags: |
  type=edge,enable=true,priority=700,prefix=,suffix=,branch=$repo.default_branch  

type=ref

tags: |
  # minimal branch event
  type=ref,event=branch
  # minimal tag event
  type=ref,event=tag
  # minimal pull request event
  type=ref,event=pr  

This type handles Git ref (or reference) for the following events:

• branch ; eg. refs/heads/master
• tag ; eg. refs/tags/v1.0.0
• pr ; eg. refs/pull/318/merge

Event	Ref	Output
pull_request	refs/pull/2/merge	pr-2
push	refs/heads/master	master
push	refs/heads/my/branch	my-branch
push tag	refs/tags/v1.2.3	v1.2.3
push tag	refs/tags/v2.0.8-beta.67	v2.0.8-beta.67

Extended attributes and default values:

tags: |
  # event branch
  type=ref,enable=true,priority=600,prefix=,suffix=,event=
  # event tag
  type=ref,enable=true,priority=600,prefix=,suffix=,event=
  # event pr
  type=ref,enable=true,priority=600,prefix=pr-,suffix=,event=  

type=raw

tags: |
  type=raw,value=foo
  type=raw,value=bar
  # or
  type=raw,foo
  type=raw,bar
  # or
  foo
  bar  

Output custom tags according to your needs.

Extended attributes and default values:

tags: |
  type=raw,enable=true,priority=200,prefix=,suffix=,value=  

type=sha

tags: |
  # minimal
  type=sha  

Output Git short commit as Docker tag like sha-ad132f5.

Extended attributes and default values:

tags: |
  type=sha,enable=true,priority=100,prefix=sha-,suffix=  

Notes

Latest tag

latest tag is handled through the flavor input. It will be generated by default (auto mode) for:

• type=ref,event=tag
• type=semver,pattern=...
• type=match,pattern=...

Overwrite labels

If some of the OCI Image Format Specification labels generated are not suitable, you can overwrite them like this:

      -
        name: Docker meta
        id: docker_meta
        uses: crazy-max/ghaction-docker-meta@v2
        with:
          images: name/app
          labels: |
            maintainer=CrazyMax
            org.opencontainers.image.title=MyCustomTitle
            org.opencontainers.image.description=Another description
            org.opencontainers.image.vendor=MyCompany            

Keep up-to-date with GitHub Dependabot

Since Dependabot has native GitHub Actions support, to enable it on your GitHub repo all you need to do is add the .github/dependabot.yml file:

version: 2
updates:
  # Maintain dependencies for GitHub Actions
  - package-ecosystem: "github-actions"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "daily"

Contributing

Want to contribute? Awesome! The most basic way to show your support is to star 🌟 the project, or to raise issues 💬. If you want to open a pull request, please read the contributing guidelines.

You can also support this project by becoming a sponsor on GitHub or by making a Paypal donation to ensure this journey continues indefinitely!

Thanks again for your support, it is much appreciated! 🙏

License

MIT. See LICENSE for more details.